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Hey, you guys wanna be trendy? Let's be trendy.


MalaCloudy Black

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There's this whole "10 most influential/important albums of your teens" thing going around on social media, and I'm loathe to post shit like that on my Facebook or Twitter or what have you - that's reserved entirely for bad jokes and pictures of cats and bad observations - so I thought, EWB LIKES A TREND, LET'S DO IT HERE. I had to think about it and read some other lists before it all fell into place.

In no particular order:

Metallica's Metallica
Soundgarden's A-Sides (best of compilation)
NWA's Efil4zaggin
Metallica's Master of Puppets
Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
Talib Kweli, The Beautiful Struggle
Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth
Johnny Cash's Columbia Records 1958–1986 (for the longest time I thought this meant he was born in 1958 and died in 1986 and, when my grandma told me about seeing him in concert in the late 90s, I was like "WHOA. He's not dead?!")
Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang
Eazy-E's Eternal E


I listened to a fuckload of RHCP as a teen so it was hard narrowing it down to one - I had their discography from Uplift Mofo.. all the way to By The Way. Funnily enough, I can't stand them now - I won't turn off the radio if a song comes on the station, but I'm certainly not seeking out any of their stuff for a nostalgia hit. The one time I tried that in recent years, I went "holy shit, this did not age well, what was I thinking?"

Soundgarden's A-Sides and Metallica's S/T were the beginning of Cloudy, Guy With Musical Tastes That Aren't His Parents'. I think that Metallica album (that or MOP) may have been the first album I ever bought with my own money, and from the ages of 13-16 I was pretty well obsessed with Metallica. I still go back and listen to "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", "Battery" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" sometimes. Like now!

Efil4zaggin was my introduction to rap music. For the longest time I held the same racist garbage view that it's "not real music" blah blah blah that a lot of kids did, but around the age of 16/17 I was posting on a forum dedicated to doom metal. They had a section devoted to tape/CD trading, where you'd post a list of albums you're willing to trade, and someone would come along and go "hey, I want that album, here's my list, anything you want?" I met a dude from South America (Brazil, I want to say, I can't recall) who wanted some of mine, and one of the things he had to trade was that NWA album. I'd started hanging out more with a buddy who listened to a lot of Biggie and Tupac and I wanted to try and get more into rap, so I picked that and a few other CDs and then it was off to the races. Wu-Tang followed courtesy of my rap-loving friend, then the Talib Kweli album was my first foray into "conscious" hip-hop.

 

Johnny Cash was something my dad would play on the stereo a lot when me and my brother were little, and I always liked it, but I never really listened to it until I was a teenager. I started buying Cash albums and listened to my dad's Columbia Records.. CD like a bajillion times a day. 


NIN's With Teeth was their first album I actually bought and sat down and listened to the full way through, because my girlfriend at the time was a huge NIN fangirl. I wound up really liking it, a lot. 

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I listened to way more music after high school, so this is more of a general list than confined to any particular time period in my life.

Prince - Purple Rain
Daniel Johnston - Hi, How Are You 
Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak 
Björk - Post 
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things 
The Replacements - Let It Be 
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate 
Philip Glass - Glassworks 
Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville 
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 

Purple Rain is the first album I bought and is still tied for my favorite with Hi, How Are You. The two albums have totally contrasting moods, but both speak to me very powerfully. And the tunes are just great. Batshit insanity notwithstanding, Kanye will always be one of my favorites, and 808s is his best album. The fact so many people disagree only serves to endear me to it greater. Björk is a special and unique creature, and Post is the best representation of her talents. Coltrane introduced me to jazz, Glass to classical, and the Replacements to everything left of the center. Cohen and Liz Phair are just great, and I kind of didn't want to include NMH on there, but if I'm being honest, I guess I had to. Every single person I knew in college played it nonstop, and I mean, it is pretty great.

I wanted to include 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields, as well, but 10 is 10. Its amazing though, and with 69 perfect songs, there's something to fit absolutely every mood. I also wanted to put Trout Mask Replica on there, cuz if you're being trendy, be trendy. But I guess NMH covered that one.

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Hmm. 10 most influential albums on me as a teen.

Enter Shikari - Take to the Skies
Eminem - Curtain Call
Linkin Park - Meteora
Lostprophets - Liberation Transmission
Blink-182 - Enema of the State
Paramore - Riot
Tupac - All Eyez On Me
Bring Me The Horizon - Suicide Season
Falling In Reverse - The Drug In Me Is You
Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil

 

Why yes, I was one of "those kids" as a teen. >_>

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I'll do a second set of ten albums for EWB, because you're worth it.

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico

Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030

The Strokes - Is This It

Weezer - Weezer (The Blue Album)

Nirvana - In Utero

Cake - Comfort Eagle

Moby - 18

Yoko Kanno - Cowboy Bebop OST 2: No Disc

Cibo Matto - Stereo Type A

Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen

the first ten, on Facebook:

Spoiler

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Gorillaz - Demon Days
the pillows - Thank you, my twilight
Digable Planets - Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)
XTC - Skylarking
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
The White Stripes - Elephant
Blur - Parklife
Mirah - You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This
Kanye West - Late Registration

 

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I did mine on Facebook. I R TRENDMAN.

I believe I only included albums from '96-'98 or so when I had a part time job so could buy my own CDs, but before going to uni in '99.

 

"Third Eye Blind" by Third Eye Blind.
"Polythene" by Feeder.
"Blur" by Blur.
"OK Computer" by Radiohead.
"1977" by Ash.
"You've Come a Long Way Baby" by Fatboy Slim.
"Garbage" by Garbage.
"Mezzanine" by Massive Attack.
"Pure" by 3 Colours Red.
"Gran Turismo" by The Cardigans.

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Oh man that Mirah album is the one with 100 Knives on it. I really liked that album. I think you're actually the person who introduced me to Mirah, @GoGo Yubari, and I still have like 3 or 4 of her albums. All so good.

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Common Courtesy by A Day to Remember
Both Homesick and What Separates Me from You come close but I think I like every single song on this album and its always a good album to get me hyped up for the gym or going out for the night.

Fools and Worthless Liars by Deaf Havana
A lot of the songs on this album are about Norfolk and reminded me of home, and my then girlfriend, at a time when I'd just left for university in Canterbury. They quickly became one of my favourite bands for these reasons and she also became a fan as they reminded her of me once I'd introduced her to them, something which lasted through the entirety of our relationship for both of us. We even saw them play a live unplugged set in one of the HMVs in Norwich when they were promoting their next album. It became very difficult for me to listen to this album and Old Souls after we broke up but I was able to get back into them through their much heavier debut album, Meet Me Halfway, At Least, and can now listen to the two albums I associate with my ex without it causing any problems. This makes me pretty happy because I really like new material and I'm going to see them live again after my birthday next month.

We Are The Others by Delain
The first two Delain albums were good but this is the first one I considered great. It was during the promotional tour for this album that I first saw them live and was probably the first real "couple" thing I did with my ex. The title track essentially continues to define the way I look at the rock society at the UEA, which has been the source of most of my friends post-breakup.

Elliot Minor by Elliot Minor
Back in the days when my music tastes were a lot lighter I'm fairly certain this was the first album I ever bought, from the HMV in Covent Garden, when I was visiting London with my mum for a reason which escapes me. Its probably the first new "Kerrang-ish" thing I listened to since my childhood growing up listening to a lot of the late 90s-early 2000s stuff back when the songs played on the channel were still based on viewers calling in.

A Flash Flood of Colour by Enter Shikari
Take to the Skies was released a month after my 13th birthday and was my first experience with the band but this was the first Shikari album to be released when they'd become one of my favourites. I think the fact that their songs are often politically inspired is part of the reason why I like them so much.

Enemy of the World by Four Year Strong
It was a close call between this album and In Some Way, Shape, or Form but the earlier album wins out thanks to synth player leaving the band.

Chasing the Grail by Fozzy
Although I think I prefer Sin and Bones, which is eligible, I think this album was a lot more influential in making Fozzy one of my favourite bands regardless of their lead singer being a wrestler. One of my favourite things each time I see them live is the huge smile on Chris Jericho's face when the 'Y2J' chants slowly become 'Fozzy' chants as their set progresses.

See The Light by Less Than Jake
I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who believes that this is the best LTJ album. I conceded that it is the most consistent album but that Hello Rockview is better. Unfortunately that came out when I was 4 so it doesn't count here. Ska punk is something which I heavily associate with sunnyness and my time in California (a few months after my teenage years but probably the best time of my life), mostly because the genre has its roots in Orange County where I was based, and works very well in conjunction with good weather to raise my spirits. The effects aren't quite as great at this time of year but it still works a little on clear winter days.

The Incredible Machine by Sugarland
A bit of an outlier in my music tastes being a country duo in a sea of punk and metal but I really got into this album after seeing the music video for Stuck Like Glue on TV, and it quickly led to me owning their entire album catalogue bar a Christmas album.

Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace
One-X would've been here instead but it was released when I was 12. It got me through a lot of angst during my last 2 years at high school.

Special mention to Hits by New Found Glory which is a compilation album consisting entirely of songs released before I was a teenager, but I credit this album with pulling me back into pop punk and in turn leading me towards ska punk. These two genres have made up a large part of my music taste for several years now.

Shout outs to Alien Ant Farm, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Cascada, The Feeling, Goldfinger, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Linkin Park, Lost Prophets, The Offspring, Panic! at the Disco, Papa Roach, Reel Big Fish, Rise Against, Save Ferris, and Sum 41, all of whom released albums (and the majority of their most well known songs) which influenced my childhood and teenage years before I became a teenager. :shifty:

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If this were artists I could maybe do it but I never paid much mind to whole albums. I think in songs and who does them, the album is just the unit/package they come in.

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1 hour ago, Kirkland said:

If this were artists I could maybe do it but I never paid much mind to whole albums. I think in songs and who does them, the album is just the unit/package they come in.

I am the complete opposite of this, as a song, stand alone, can be nothing impressive, but a set of songs on an album can be much more than the sum of it's individual songs.  Not saying that you are wrong, just that I have a very different POV.

With that said, in no particular order....

  1. Nirvana - Bleach
  2. KoRn - S/T
  3. Biffy Clyro - Vertigo of Bliss
  4. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
  5. DARTZ! - This is my Ship
  6. Thursday - Full Collapse
  7. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
  8. Andy, Glenn and Ritch - Escape from the Bastille
  9. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
  10. Radiohead - The Bends

There are probably some that I just didn't think of, and for sure, some like System of a Down, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, Killswitch Engage, Taking Back Sunday, Alexisonfire and Coheed & Cambria came close but in terms of "influence on me as a teenager" the above is probably representative.

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My teens? Christ, this is going to be awful. Let me think ...

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Babyshambles - Down in Albion
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
Death Cab For Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
Josh Rouse - El Tourista
Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
The Libertines - both of them
Ryan Adams - Cold Roses

jeeeez ... perhaps I could have found room for a few more white guys with guitars in the interest of balance, but I guess this is broadly accurate :/

Edited by metalman
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The main thing I realised when trying to compile this list is, well...just how much of my favourite music I didn't find until after leaving university.

And how I clearly never bought enough albums or else this would have been easier!

But anyway, let's have a bash (in no particular order):

1. Oasis, (What's The Story) Morning Glory
2. Blur, The Best of Blur
3. The Offspring, Smash
4. Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
5. Fatboy Slim, You've Come a Long Way, Baby
6. Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection
7. Green Day, International Superhits
8. Metallica, Metallica (The Black Album)
9. Muse, Origin of Symmetry
10. Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction

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Smash only narrowly missed the list for me. Bad Habit, Come Out And Play, Gotta Get Away, Killboy Powerhead, What Happened To You.. the only reason that missed my list is because I bought it when I was in my teens, but I didn't really start listening to it a whole lot until I was 20 or 21. I know, pedantic, but still. :shifty:

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Lets see....I'll limit to one artist.

The Ramones - All this stuff and more Vol. 1. Basically a comp of their first three albums. This one blew my mind.

Nomeansno - Wrong. 

Adolescents - Self Titled

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables 

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers - LAMF

Dead Boys - Young, Loud, and Snotty

Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks

Bad Brains - Self titled

Richard Hell and The Voidoids - Blank Generation

the Stooges - Raw Power

I mean, this was pretty obvious how my list would shape up. I was about 14-15 when I really fugured out punk. I had no clue rock and roll could sound this way. It was exactly what I wanted in a time when I was bored with music. It really was like the perfect thing for me. Very different to what I was used to and opened me up to so much more going forward. Punk made me a fan of Link Wray, surf, and all the weird little genres out there. 

There are definitely other albums, the Germs GI for example, but I think that is a good list of ten. A lot of it was the beginning for me.

Stuff like Hendrix, Alice Cooper, and Black Sabbath could be mentioned but I was a fan before I hit my teenage years.

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  1. Blink 182 - Enema of the State: what got me into punk music. I probably know the words to every song off the album. I fell in love with blink-182 when I was 12 years old and they were definitely formative in shaping my attitudes about music and humor and life. 
  2. Rancid - And Out Comes the Wolves: While Blink-182 was my gate-way to pop punk, Rancid introduced me to the punk world at large. As a 14 year old kid, seeing a Rancid video on television was so jarring - the mohawks, the leather, everyone looking quite rough. There are so many great songs on this album. 
  3. Refused - The Shape of Punk To Come: Refused in high school was a legend to me. I could see so many of the bands of my time period in concert - I saw Pennywise, Bad Religion, Rancid, etc. - but Refused released an opus and broke up months later. The album from top to bottom is amazing - loud, abrasive, expansive and experimental. 
  4. The Clash - London Calling: My dad is a guy who loves older music and newer music that sounds like older music. So we never had a lot of musical commonalities. London Calling is one of those commonalities. I started collecting records and my uncle gave this to me on vinyl and I've listened to it so many times since. It's probably my favorite album of all time and it taught me not just how to be angry, but where to direct my anger.  
  5.  Le Tigre - Le Tigre: While I was a punk for the majority of my teen years, I started to branch out at 17 years of age. Le Tigre was a great entrance point - they are aggressive and in your face in a punk manner, but they've got drum machines and wanted to make you dance. 
  6. George Michael - Faith: I already put down some words about George Michael in the other thread, but he was so formative in me just embracing pop music. At the age of 8-9, I was obsessed with the Spice Girls and I was told that it was girlie and I shouldn't like it and I stopped. As a teenager, when I could like anything and keep it hidden, listening to George Michael and being able to enjoy something and not feel judged. 
  7. Scissor Sisters -  Scissor Sisters: I remember for the longest time, the Scissor Sisters were kind of my secret getaway. I wasn't fully out to everyone in my life, so having the Scissor Sisters as this place where I could go and listen to music in a sanctuary was great. 
  8. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People: This is the album that really got me into indie rock music. I spent so many nights at home just listening to it on CD, obsessing over every hidden layer and gem on each song. 
  9.  Kanye West - College Dropout: One of the first hip hop albums I got into. I love hip hop because it transports me to somewhere else and I listen to this radically different narrative than what I live with. College Dropout did that for me. I
  10. Junior Senior - Ddddon't Stop the Beat: It's just upbeat and fun no frills pop and dance music. There was no band at the time like Junior Senior and no band still around. Just pure sugar pop goodness. 
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No particular order, and I might not even be able to think of ten off the top of my head.

1. Vices and Virtues - Panic! at the Disco

2. Regional at Best - Twenty One Pilots

3. Vessel - Twenty One Pilots

4. Believers never die (greatest hits) - Fall Out Boy (they were very much on hiatus when I started listening to them).

5. Bullet in a Bible (Live album) - Green Day

6. Razorlight - Razorlight

7. Disc-Overy - Tinie Tempah

8. The Circus - Take that

9. In the City - Kevin Rudolf

10. Night visions - Imagine Dragons

Never really listened to albums back in the day. Like, there's definitely some stuff in there that has influenced the music I mostly listen to now. But then there's also some fucking random shit in there too (looking at you Kevin Rudolf). 

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I was thinking about this the other day before the Facebook trend, trying to remember what I was into during my college years circa 2004-2006. Even now at 29 I listen to some of these albums quite a lot as, aside from Nickelback, I've never grown out of them.

 

(In no particular order:)

1. Muse - Origin of Symmetry / Absolution / Black Holes and Revelations

2. Keane - Hopes and Fears

3. Nickelback - The State

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way

5. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

6. Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water (I also listened to 'Results May Vary' a lot in college... I had a listen back just the other day and it's amazing Interscope let out an album with so little tunes.)

7. Supergrass - In It For The Money

8. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

9. The White Stripes - Elephant

10. Sum 41 - Chuck

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